Matchmaker Riley
by hcsp1
Summary: One night, Riley's new friend tells her that she has a crush on one of Riley's guy friends and asks for help in order to get him, even though Riley tells her he's interested in another girl. While Riley objects at the beginning, some discoveries make her change her mind regarding the subject. Based on a true story.


**The following one-shot is based on a true story. With that being said, I would like to point out that there is no intention to insulte, mock or criticize any of the people being represented in this story. Also, while the events in this story DID take place, not all of them are fully accurate and some liberties were taken in order to make the story work better or in order to fit with the "Inside Out" universe.**

 **With all of this being said, I hope you will all enjoy! Reviews and feedback are always appreciated!**

* * *

Hockey can be a very intense sport, especially when a match is about to reach its end and both teams' scores are tied. The only thing that could change it all was if one team would get one more goal in order to win the match.

With less than thirty seconds on the clock, both teams entered the final face-off of the game. Two players, one from each team, were standing in the middle of the ice rink and staring at each other through their helmets, waiting for the sound of the whistle which will make the clock count down again.

One of the players wore light green uniform with some white stripes on them, there was also a drawing of an orange creature with a green helmet, matching the players', on the player's shirt. The other wore identical cloths, only instead of green the uniform was mostly colored blue and featured a drawing of a hockey puck instead of a mascot.

Both players were in position, ready for the final round of the match to start. Their looks constantly changing from looking at each other, to looking at the judge, to the ice beneath their skates. Eventually, the long-awaited whistle was heard and the puck dropped to the ground.

The player with the green uniform charged at it, stealing it from the competitor before charging towards the goal. When one of the rival team members showed up in the middle of the way, the player passed the puck to one of her teammates, which was on her right. The other player got it and quickly passed it on to another player once two competitors attempted to steal the puck from her. The third teammate managed to hold on to it for a decent amount of time until she reached the rival team's goal.

With only ten seconds to spare, the player passed the puck back to the girl from the face-off, who caught it and skated right towards the opposing team's goal. The guard was ready to block her shot, the clock was ticking and about to reach zero and the girl's mind was focused on her objective. " _Not this time…_ " She thought to herself before hitting the puck as hard as she could, barley missing the guard and scoring one more point for her team.

As the clock reached a round number, the score changed and the whistle signaling the match's end was heard; the girl took off her helmet, revealing a blonde hair which reached her shoulders and a pair of happy blue eyes. The girl threw her hands in the air with joy, excited because she has just won the game for her team.

"Riley! Riley! Riley!" The crowed was cheering for the girl while her teammates picked her up and started lifting her in the air as a celebration of their victory.

Once she got off the ice and entered the sidelines where the crowed sat, Riley was greeted by a bunch of hugs from her friends and family. One of her friends, a guy named Jason, even showed that he filmed Riley scoring the winning shot on her own phone before congratulating her with a hug as well.

"Thanks everyone." Riley smiled at all of her friends, teammates and parents. "Who's up for pizza?" She asked, receiving a loud roar from her friends as approval for her suggestion.

* * *

After she finished celebrating the victory of the hockey game with her friends, Riley headed back home. It's been a year since she moved with her parents to San-Francisco and despite the rocky start she had, Riley was starting to think of this new city as her actual home. She made some new friends, though she still kept in touch with her old ones, she was doing fine at her new school and her connection with her parents was as great as it ever was.

Hours after she came back home, Riley's adrenaline rush was still high and she couldn't bring herself to sleep just yet. Seeing how it didn't matter, as she was starting school late the next day anyway, the girl lay in her bed with her laptop open on her knees. While scrolling down various websites and enjoying herself until she'll feel tired enough in order to go to sleep, a ringtone was suddenly heard and was followed by a message showing up on her laptop screen.

Inside Riley's head, a group consisted of a yellow star-like girl with blue hair, a blue tear-like girl wearing glasses, a purple nerve-like guy with a bowtie, a green broccoli-like girl wearing a lot of makeup and a red fire-brick-like guy with formal wearing; was watching the events through Riley's eyes.

"Oh, look guys!" The yellow girl, Joy, pointed at the screen which presented what the girl was currently seeing. "April is calling us!" She said with excitement.

"Who?" Sadness, the blue one of the group, asked.

"Isn't that the new girl who moved here two months ago?" Fear, the purple one which resembled a nerve asked, thinking he knew who that girl was; but also wanted to make sure with his friends.

"Yeah, I think it's her." The green female, who was Disgust, confirmed his suspicions while also looking at the screen, examining April's Profile picture. "That girl needs a serious haircut and an immediate change of makeup."

"But before that, let's talk to her." Joy offered with enthusiasm before pressing a few buttons on a console which was located in front of them and was used to control Riley's actions and reactions.

"Did she come to the game today?" The final member of the group, the red Anger, suddenly asked and caught everyone by surprise. "I'll take your silence as a "no", so why should we answer her if she didn't come?"

"Come on, Anger." Joy said. "She's still relatively new here; we were on the same boat a year ago." She reminded.

"That's not an excuse." He argued while crossing his arms.

"Neither is not answering her because of her not coming to our game." Joy replied before returning to control Riley and make her pick up the call. "Besides, she's probably just looking for a friendly chat. What could happen?" The yellow emotion asked, optimistic that nothing bad will happen if Riley would answer the call.

Riley pressed the "Answer Call" button, causing the message of someone calling disappear and be replaced with a girl who was Riley's age. April had a messy black hair which reached slightly beneath her shoulders, she was kind of chubby but at the same time not all that fat, her eyes were brown and she appeared to be wearing white pajamas. "Hey, Riley!" She greeted cheerfully from her room and through the computer screen, earning a similar reaction from Riley. "How're you doing?" April asked quickly after that.

"I'm doing really great. We won the match today!" Riley told her as Joy made her act as the cheerful young girl she was known to be, but not noticing Anger silently walking up to the console and pressing one button without Joy's permission. "You know? The game I invited you to watch, but you didn't show up to." She added, sounding a bit angry, but not furious.

"Anger!" Joy snapped at him once a yellow and red orb rolled into their headquarters, joining a wide variety of colorful orbs which were made during the day and represented Riley's memories.

"What? I was just pointing out the facts." Anger defended himself before all the emotions continued watching the conversation move along.

"I did show up." April stated, surprising Riley and her emotions. "I called to tell you that you were totally awesome today! That last goal was amazing!" She complemented.

Smirking at Anger who was proven wrong, Joy continued handling the conversation. "Oh, okay… Thanks!" Riley commented to the complement she has received, unaware that inside her head Disgust was about to become a part of this chat. "Why didn't you come say that after the match, then?" The blonde girl asked like she had a bad taste in her mouth.

"I wanted to; but you were surrounded by everyone else and I felt like I wouldn't belong among all of these people." She answered. "So I decided to wait until you'll be on and tell you then."

Hearing her answer, Joy mentioned for Sadness to take control over the situation as it seemed to require her skills. When the blue emotion touched the control panel, Riley's face seemed somewhat hurt and surprised. "Why think you wouldn't belong?" She asked April. "I told you the day you arrived here; a year ago I was in the same situation as you. If I managed to settle in with everybody, you can do it as well." At that point, Disgust joined Sadness at operating the console. "Besides, you are my friend. If I'm a part of something, you belong in there just as much as everybody."

Riley's answer made April smile, happy that her new friend was so expecting and nice towards her. "Thank you, Riley. I'll remember that the next time you'll play." She answered with a smile, attracting a smile from Riley herself which was in no doubt Joy's doing.

"You see, guys?" Joy asked the other emotions. "She's cool. She's just a little shy, that's all."

"Can't blame her." Fear pipped in. "You remember the time after Riley almost ran away? Making new friends was a scary thing."

"You guys were lucky to have me." Disgust commented while using her arm to push her hair over her shoulder. "If it wasn't for me, Riley would have never talked to anyone after the first few days."

The emotions' attention turned back to the console once they heard April started talking again. "Say, I saw you hugging that Jason today after you won and you also hang out with him a lot I noticed. Do you like him or something?"

Before Riley responded to the question, the emotions inside of her head tried to digest the question, as all of them weren't ready for it. "Why did she ask that? Is there a problem with it? Are we friends with two people who are rivals!?" Fear was the first to react, afraid of Riley being in the middle of a fight between two people.

"Oh no…" Sadness commented on what Fear said. "Riley doesn't want to choose sides. That's so sad…"

"I don't get what the big deal is." Anger voiced his opinion. "If she doesn't like Jason, that doesn't mean Riley can't like him!"

"Ugh. Guys, are you forgetting something?" Disgust asked, gathering the overall attention again. "Jason is just her friend! Riley doesn't like him as more than that remember?"

"Yeah… Disgust has a point." Joy said after she thought about it all. "Jason is just Riley's friend. No romance involved, which means no trouble between Riley and April." She declared before pressing a few buttons on the console.

Joy's actions caused Riley to giggle at April question. "No, we're just good friends." She answered. "I'm not much of a dating person, to be honest. I mean, I went ice-skating with Jordan a few weeks ago, but nothing serious came out of it."

"Oh, okay then." April replied simply. "I wish I was like you. I always wanted to have a boyfriend by my side to share my life with."

Inside Riley's head, Disgust was smirking at what April said. "Alright, we are getting some gossip in this call!" The green emotion said while stretching her fingers and making Riley continue the conversation on the same track.

"Got any particular guys you're crushing over?" Riley asked, Disgust making her want to hear more about the subject while Sadness did try to maintain her friend's need for some teenage romance juice by relaxing April. "You don't have to tell me. I was just curios." Riley added under Sadness's touch.

"I'm actually eyeing a certain boy you might know…" April replied with a nervous smile and a small blush appearing on her cheeks.

Riley was backing away from the screen a bit, turning her eyes from one side to another while thinking about who could this boy be.

"We might know?" Disgust asked in disbelief. "This girl is so obvious about who it is I'm actually trying not to throw up."

"Do you think…?" Fear's question was answered by a nod from Disgust, which urged him to work the controls for Riley's next sentence.

"Is it Jason…?" The blonde asked with a very un-sure tone, closing half her eyes while saying his name.

"Bingo…" April replied, causing a debate to open up in Riley's head.

"Called it!" Disgust stated, smirking at her good guess.

"So she asked us if we like Jason because she wanted to make a move!" Joy declared, proud of her discovery.

"That's seriously a low." Anger commented. "We gave her the best speech we could muster up a second ago, and then she's asking us this question just to be sure about her feelings?"

"But, doesn't Jason like this other girl?" Sadness asked.

"Hey, that's right." Joy stated. "He told us that he's eyeing this girl from one of the other classes. We should probably let her know." But before the star emotion could have reached the console, Disgust was already at work.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Fear asked unsure.

"Trying to stop that girl from dreaming about fantasies which will never happen." She replied.

"Well, sorry to tell you this, sis." Riley said to April. "But he's eyeing a different girl."

"Oh, really?" April asked, her face falling down a bit after hearing that.

"I'm sorry, April." Riley said. "But it's better I told you now instead of him telling you that…" She tried to comfort.

"Do you know who that girl is?" The girl on the computer screen asked further.

"I know of her, maybe saw her a few times… but I didn't really get the chance to talk to her or anything." She said. "I don't think Jason even got to talk to her for more than a few seconds." Riley threw a sarcastic remark in an attempt to make April giggle a bit, but the reaction she got was one she didn't expect.

"He didn't talk to her?" April asked, causing another debate to start inside Riley's head after Joy and Disgust's combined efforts on the latest sentence.

"What are you two doing!?" Anger asked the both of them.

"We tried to cheer her up…" Joy defended herself.

"That's what you did. I was just criticizing Jason for barley talking to that girl." Disgust said while crossing her arms.

"Whatever you did, you just caused us trouble!" Anger yelled before pointing at the screen.

"Do you think you could maybe get him to talk to me?" April was asking Riley for her help. "Maybe you could help him like me more than her?"

"Oh, wow…" Disgust said while observing the conversation. "Desperate much?"

"What do we do, Joy?" Sadness asked, turning to the leader for some answers.

"I… am not sure, actually." Joy was running out of ideas.

"We've got to react quick…" Fear started panicking before he ran up to the console and started improvising button presses.

"I don't know…" Riley trailed off. "I mean… I don't want to force something on a friend…"

"Then don't force." April reasoned. "Tomorrow during lunch break, I'll just come by whenever I see you together and it will look like a natural introduction."

"Okay, I had enough of this…" Anger said as he walked towards the console, pushing through the other emotions, and slamming his fist on the control panel which caused two levers to pop out.

"April, it's not that simple." Riley said with an angrier tone, but it wasn't outright furious. "He's still my friend, and doing this will technically be lying to him." She continued with the same tone while Anger was clutching the two levers, ready to push them forward in case an outburst will be needed.

"And aren't I your friend?" April asked, her tone rose a bit as well. "Or was this entire speech from a few seconds ago a lie in itself?"

Riley's eyes widened at the argument, realizing thanks to Fear that April did have a point. The girl thought about this for a few seconds before she rolled her eyes. "Okay, you know what? I will try and introduce between the two of you tomorrow; but I can't promise you anything other than that." She made herself clear about the last part especially, so that April won't blame her if nothing will come out of this.

Once Riley's agreement entered her ears, April smiled at her. "Thanks you, Riley. I'll talk to you tomorrow." She said, receiving a nod from Riley before closing her laptop and thus ending the call.

Feeling tired, Riley decided it was time for her to go to sleep as well. Inside her head, the emotions started discussing the situation they have found themselves in. "Well, that was unexpected…" Joy was the first to comment.

"Yeah; now we have to play matchmaker for something we know won't succeed." Disgust commented.

"Okay, let's make things clear." Joy stated before sending Riley's memories from the day to the long-term memory. "We promised we will try, we didn't promise a success. That means we could make the two of them talk to each other and then if something will happen,"

"Which is unlikely." Anger added.

"Everyone's happy! In the case of it not going anywhere…"

"The more likely result."

"We prepared her for the worst case scenario. Either way, Riley won't lose any friends from this entire thing." Joy concluded.

* * *

Riley walked into school like any other day, ready for another few hours of learning stuff which wasn't important in her opinion; but someone decided that she along with other kids her age should know them anyway. April wasn't late in greeting her that morning, appearing even quicker than Riley had expected. There was nothing to report on Riley's side as she hadn't seen Jason yet, which April seemed to realize before she headed towards her class.

Lunch break was the point where Riley started realizing that agreeing to help April out with her crush was a bit of a mistake, as April was really obsessive about the entire thing. "Have you seen him? Have you talked to him yet? Do you think he'll come to our table? Will he like what I'm wearing?" All of these questions, and more, were being thrown at Riley faster than hockey pucks flying towards the goal.

Much to the girl's dismay, not only did April drove her insane, but Jason didn't seem to be at school at all throughout the day. Riley did look for him during the few free seconds when April wasn't nagging her about his whereabouts, but the boy wasn't found at any part of the school. This meant that throughout the whole day April was asking questions, Jason was nowhere to be found in order to initiate the plan from last night and Riley was about to lose her mind.

When school was done, Riley picked up her stuff and ran out of school as fast as she could. Upon walking through the gate, after believing that she managed to escape that crazy girl for the day, her voice calling her name made Riley flinch. She wasn't getting off the hook that easily it seems…

The same routine followed for the next day or two. Riley would go into school, meet April who would throw questions about Jason at her, The boy in question was nowhere to be seen, Riley's emotions had to constantly stop Anger from making their girl snap at anyone, the day ends and the whole thing started all over again when the following morning's sun rose up.

Throughout those few days, Riley spent most of her time with April other than the rest of her friends. She did sit with them during lunch break while stories and laughs were shared, but every lunch started to include April now for no particular reason. Riley did introduce the new girl to her friends and was happy that they allowed her to join their table, but because April just sat there and didn't say anything she was also viewed as a pointless addition. Riley knew the reason why that was the case, but that didn't mean April had to become an inanimate object when there were other people around and Jason wasn't the topic of conversation.

With another day of Jason not being around over, Riley used her friends as something to hide behind while heading out of school, trying to avoid April. The solution worked as Riley managed to walk away from the school grounds without being detected. But half way through her walk with her friends, she noticed April walking on the other side of the road, looking sad.

"It's April." Sadness pointed out inside of Riley's head. "She looks sad. Shall we do something?" She asked Joy if the idea was acceptable.

"Why? So she could annoy us even more about this boy we can't seem to find for some reason!?" Anger objected.

"She means no harm though." Joy argued in April's defense. "She's still a friend of Riley's…"

Suddenly, an offer to go to a movie popped up among Riley's group of friends, receiving a warm reception from the kids while Riley still debated if she should go and check on April. As the emotions decided to let Joy call the shots in that case, Riley politely declined the offer and told the others that she will sit this one out. Once her friends left, Riley crossed the road and approached the new girl. "April?" She called, causing the young girl to turn in her direction, revealing that she was crying. "W… What's wrong?" Riley asked, a bit afraid from seeing her crying for some reason.

Through tears and sniffs, the black-haired girl managed to talk back. "I… I know this might sound pathetic. But it seems like ever since I asked for your help, Jason started to avoid me to the point he's not even coming to school anymore."

Riley's eyes went wide at the answer she's got. It was THAT important to her? It sure looked like it. Obeying to Sadness inside of her head, Riley approached April and gave her a soft, comforting hug. "Don't be sad. I don't know myself what is going on with him and why he hadn't showed up lately, but I can promise you it has nothing to do with you…" She tried, but April just kept on crying.

* * *

Shortly after, Riley found herself on her living room couch with a crying April by her side. When Riley told her mother she was bringing home a friend who needed help, her mother didn't expect a girl who looked like she had lost everything to show up at the door. Never the less, she allowed the girl in, happy that her daughter was willing to help a friend in need.

When it looked like April calmed down from her apparent breakdown, Riley attempted to learn what also bugged her. "She's obviously going through something tough." Sadness told the rest of Riley's emotions. "That's not just Jason…"

"Do you think you could find out what that is?" Fear asked her.

"Am I allowed to try, Joy?" The blue emotion asked for permission, receiving it from the leader of the group.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Riley asked April once the other girl calmed down.

"There isn't much to say." She answered quietly. "Ever since I moved here and I bumped into him once in the hall I thought he looked cute, but I tried to shake it away. After that, he ended up adding me on Facebook and he liked some of my pictures and posts. We didn't talk much, but I found all of these actions to be so sweet I started crushing over him for a bit. When I saw you were a mutual friend of both of us and how you were the nicest person I talked to after moving here, I thought maybe I could make this one thing work… Just this one thing…"

Thinking of what to say, Riley put her arm around April shoulders. "I'm sorry this hadn't turned out the way you hoped for, but there's no reason to cry. You could still have a chance with him." She tried to cheer April up, even though she knew chances for her and Jason becoming a couple were slim.

"I doubt it…" The girl replied. "Not only does he like that other girl from what you told me; no one ever stays by my side after a while." She said as the tears came back. "My father ran away when I was very little, my mother was committed into an insane asylum a few months ago and all of my friends from my old home betrayed me because of one stupid thing I did."

"What?" Riley asked, surprised by what she has just heard as April never told her this story before.

"I grew up without a father; all I know is that he left me and my mother when I was three or so. I won't say we were poor or anything, but we didn't have much money to spare." She told, her tears no longer dropping from her eyes, but they were still visible. "This led me to hang out with the lesser kids in my school and with no real adult super-vision, since my mother was busy working from morning until night, I ended up taking place in crimes."

"You… you stole stuff!?" Riley asked in shock, not seeing April as someone who would steal something.

"Nothing big like money or jewels; but candies and the like were enough to hunt me. One day though, I decided I'm not going to take part in it anymore and I stood up to my friends. They ended up going to the police and later that day a cop was at the door, scaring my mother to death. I wasn't arrested because there were no evidence, but this alone made my mother move as far away from those kids as possible. After living here for a month or so, don't ask me how we managed to afford the house, my mother started losing it as well. She barely managed to hold on a job and I'm guessing paying for the new house and the new school wasn't helping her situation."

Riley listened to the story in silence, her emotions absorbing every word as well.

"I take everything I said back." Disgust was the first to talk. "This girl had it rough."

"I'm actually starting to feel bad for getting angry at her…" Anger showed remorse as well.

"I think we all over-reacted a bit regarding April." Fear concluded.

"One night," April continued after using a tissue in order to wipe her nose. "I heard her yelling at the phone. I'm not sure who she was talking to, but she scared me. She started kicking stuff around, breaking things and when the call ended she saw me looking at her." The girl then stopped her talking in order to take a deep breath, wording the next part in her mind. "Then she charged at me and started to yell that I'm to blame for all of this. She was right to some degree, but I just started running from her. I managed to grab my phone and call 9-1-1 but by the time they arrived, I already had scars." Following the last few words, April pushed her hair behind her ear, revealing scratches on her cheek.

Riley gasped, a result of Fear hitting a button on the console before closing his eyes while Disgust also couldn't look, not being a fan of injuries and scars herself. "But if you're an orphan, how come you don't live in an orphanage?" Riley asked.

"Since my mother is still technically alive, I'm not a full orphan. I still live in my regular home while someone from my mom's asylum comes in to check on me every day." She explained. "So now you can see, everybody leaves me at the end. I can't believe I was even thinking Jason was an option." April sighed, running out of tears. "I'm sorry that I dragged you into my messy life, Riley. You didn't deserve to hear all of that."

"Oh wow, this girl might went through a lot of trouble; but she still doesn't get it." Disgust said before turning to Sadness. "Help me here a bit." She said before the two emotions worked together on the console.

"You've got nothing to apologize for." Riley said as she hugged April's shoulder tighter. "Like I said before, you're my friend and you can tell me everything. That's what friends do." She gave her the best smile she could have mustered up before April ran into her, turning the shoulder hug into a full embrace.

"Thanks, Riley." April sniffed, lightly smiling at finally letting her entire baggage go.

The emotions looked at the events on the screen which served as Riley's eyes. Their attention has turned towards an incoming blue and green orb which made its way towards the middle of the headquarters, meaning it was a core memory. Once in place, Riley's Friendship Island shined bright, giving Joy an idea. The yellow emotion ran towards a shelf full of tiny lightbulbs and placed one inside of the console.

With wide eyes, Riley broke the hug and looked April in the eye. "Say, how much trouble would it be for you to get what you need for school tomorrow?"

"Uh… not much trouble, I have everything in my backpack." April replied while pointing to her bag which lay near Riley's against the wall. "Why do you ask?"

"Hey, mom?" Riley called with a smile on her face, her mother showing up at the sound of her daughter's voice. "Can April sleep here tonight? She already has everything she needs for school tomorrow and she could borrow some of my clothes."

"I like this idea." Disgust suddenly remarked. "We help her in two ways…"

"I don't see why not…" Riley's mother said. "If it's okay with her parents, I don't mind and I don't think your father will."

"My parents… are not much around." April told Riley's mother before she had to explain everything again. After hearing the abridged version of April's story, Riley's mom immediately agreed to welcome the girl for the night.

Upon approval, April called her caretaker to tell him she was sleeping at a friend's house, something he was extremely happy about. The girls immediately started setting up an extra mattress in Riley's room for April to sleep on. Throughout the rest of the day; the two talked to each other and hung out, April almost completely forgetting that she was crying her soul out a few hours prior. Riley shared with her tales from her life at Minnesota and also some interesting facts she knew about kids who attended their school.

Following dinner, Joy thought of another idea which could help April feel better. "Guys, I think I've got another idea." She declared while raising the lightbulb, gathering everyone's attention. "You might remember we've got hockey practice tomorrow, right?" The emotions nodded. "And you might remember that Jason has some practices himself at around the same time, right?"

"Where are you going with this, Joy?" Anger started to lose his patience. "Just tell us!"

"Okay, so in theory Jason should show up to practice tomorrow. However, we can't be sure since he wasn't at school for the last couple days. So, let's call him and ask if he's planning to arrive tomorrow and if he says yes, Riley could bring April and get them to talk." She explained.

"So, are we basically doing what we said we will do in order to not do it at all?" Disgust asked, questioning the logic of the plan.

"But, didn't Riley say it will be like lying to Jason?" Fear asked. "Also, Riley told April Jason has a crush on another girl. We all know nothing will probably come out of this, even if April deserves it." He warned.

"Considering the fact this guy didn't make a move for the past five months, I don't think we will hurt his chances much if we'll go with this." Disgust objected, realizing there might be a chance overall if they act quickly.

"If you would have asked me in the morning, I would have said no." Anger voiced his opinion. "But after today, April needs a chance to be happy; way more than this girl Jason likes I'm willing to bet."

"Well, okay then…" Joy said as she advanced towards the console with the idea in her hand. "Here goes nothing." She said before sticking the idea inside the console. A second later, it appeared like Riley accepted the idea.

When Riley shared her new idea with April, the girl's smile grew by a couple inches. The happy look on April's face just encouraged Riley to go forward with the plan even more, believing she could help this girl have one good thing in her life.

After choosing Jason's number and calling him, Riley was glad to hear that he had picked up the call. He explained how he wasn't at school lately due to some personal stuff, but he did say he will show up to the practice tomorrow, causing Riley to nod happily towards April in confirmation that he was coming which made the other girl let out a quite cheer.

"Looks like we've got this, guys." Joy said happily after Riley ended the call. "Now we just need to wait until practice."

* * *

April was a lot happier and cheerful throughout the day, no doubt thanks to Riley's help from the previous day. She was a lot more talkative around Riley's other friends during lunch break and she wasn't talking about Jason every time she was around Riley, most likely because she knew exactly what the rest of the day holds for her.

When the time came and both girls arrived at hockey practice, Riley told April that the best time to talk to Jason would be after training was over, since he would be on the ice alongside all the other players. She nodded in understanding before Riley smiled at her and headed towards the ice filed. After the teams were set, the blonde girl shook every thought about her plan away in order to focus on the game. Even if it wasn't a real match, she should still do her best.

The match was over with the girls' team winning the boys' with a one point difference. With everyone taking their own personal complements or criticisms from the coach, Riley headed towards April, who helped her take off her skates and equipment. "You were great, Riley!" The black-haired girl complemented, causing the blonde one to shrug.

"It wasn't my best game, though not the worst either." She said while staffing her hooky gear inside of her bag. "Okay, Jason should probably be near the boys' locker room. Are you ready?" She asked, receiving a shaky nod with a nervous smile.

Riley led April through the corridors of the rink until taking the turn towards the locker rooms. Once making the final turn, Riley and April indeed saw Jason near the door. But what he was doing was something both girls didn't expect and didn't want to see.

Jason was holding another girl in his arms, kissing her lips.

"I can't believe it!" Fear yelled inside of Riley's head.

"Ugh, guys are so stupid sometimes!" Disgust commented, crossing her arms and walking away from the screen. "I'm fed up with these people!"

"Can we smack him with our hockey stick? Or maybe use one of those curse words we know? Something so that we could hurt him!?" Anger shouted.

Joy was in a loss for words while Sadness jumped into action once April ran away from the place, apparently crying, making Riley call her name and raise her hand in order to stop her.

"Riley!" She suddenly heard Jason call her, turning to face him and this girl she knew he wanted to date, but at the same time didn't want it to be real right now. "I want you to meet my new girlfriend, Annett." He said before the girl offered Riley a hand shake.

While she knew the other emotions won't support her move, Joy made Riley shake the other girl's hand. Shortly after, Joy mentioned for Fear to take control for a second so that he could get Riley out of this fast enough so that she could get to April. "Uh, it's nice meeting you and it's good to see you again, Jason. But I just came by to say hi, I'm kind of in a hurry." She said extremely fast, like if she was scared to miss something.

"No problem. See you tomorrow?" He asked and Riley nodded, breaking into a run as soon as she answered.

* * *

April was running away from the ice rink, tears escaping her eyes at a fast pace. There it was again; that feeling that nothing ever goes right for her, that she's once again the one in last place, even though she was sure this time will be different. She eventually stopped running and sat down on a bench she came across, continuing to cry her eyes out. Not a second later though, someone did came over to talk to her.

"April!" She heard Riley calling her name just before she sat down by her side. "Oh my, you have no idea how sorry I am. I didn't plan this, I had no idea that was going on, if I would have known I…"

"SHUT UP!" April suddenly screamed, scarring Riley. "Don't. Just don't apologize." The girl said seconds after her outburst. "Your apologizing won't change anything, mostly because you have nothing to be sorry about. You warned me about this girl but I pressed on anyway. What was I thinking? Hoping for something good to happen to me…" April muttered, both sad and angry with herself.

"Poor girl…" Sadness commented while watching the breakdown. "I don't know what to do anymore." She sighed heavily, walking away from the console along with the rest of the emotions except for Joy.

Thinking this through, Riley's main emotion pressed a few buttons on the console, attempting to not make Riley act too happy. "Okay, come on." Riley told April as she got up from the bench, the crying girl looking at her. "We're going to get some ice-cream; you and me."

"Riley, I appreciate your good will. But I don't want…" Before April could finish talking, Joy called for Anger and Disgust to come over and take control of the situation.

"Listen to me." Riley said aggressively while holding April's shoulders. "I know you've been through a lot in your life and I guess it most have been hard for you, but what about yesterday?" She asked, surprising her friend. "Weren't we having a good time?" Once April nodded, Riley continued to fire away. "And was Jason a part of it? No, he wasn't! You don't need a boyfriend in order to be happy and to have someone to share your life with." At that point, Joy took control again. "You can also have a good friend for those things." Riley smiled softly, noticing her words helped April a bit. "So, are you coming to get that ice-cream?"

April stared at her friend, not aware that inside of her head her emotions were debating what to do. Sadness was at the control panel, a position she held throughout most of April's life due to her being the girl's main emotion, and also because the situation called for it.

"What do you think we should do?" A female fear asked, not sure if they should accept Riley's offer.

"This Riley was treating us well enough ever since we got here." A male Disgust pointed out. "I don't see why not?"

"Maybe because every other friend we had ended up being a traitor!" Anger objected.

"Guys, would you just look at her?" Joy told her co-workers. "I can tell by everything she did for April and from all the help she gave her that she's a good person. This might be our chance to have something good happen in April's life." With no arguments rising against it, Joy pressed a single button, causing April to smile and accept Riley's offer.

After the girls shared a hug and started heading towards the ice-cream shop, a glowing yellow orb rolled into April's headquarters, stopping in the middle of the tube and taking its place alongside the other core memories. Once there, April's new Friendship Island continued to glow bright, signaling the start of a new friendship.

THE END

* * *

 **This idea was in the works for quite a while now and it feels great to finally finish it. It was kind of fun re-visiting a high school experience of mine... until it got to the few rough points, but still. I hope you enjoyed reading this!**

 **Another thing I want to point out. Questions regarding the actual events this story was based on, if ones were to pop up, WILL NOT be answered out of respect for the real people, as some of them are still friends of mine. The only thing I will share is that Riley was based on me in this "adaptation".**

 **With all that said, I hope you enjoyed! Leave a review if you've got something to say and thanks for reading! Take care!**


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